Mahan Air

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Mahan Air

IATA W5	ICAO IRM	Callsign MAHAN AIRline
Founded		1993 in Kerman, Iran
Hubs		Imam Khomeini International Airport
Secondary hubs		Mehrabad International Airport Bandar Abbas International Airport
Fleet size		24
Destinations		27
Parent company		Iran Nationalist Airlines Corporation
Headquarters		Tehran, Iran
Key people
Website: http://www.mahan.aero

Mahan Air is an airline based in Tehran, Iran. It operates scheduled domestic services and international flights to Europe, India, Pakistan and the Far East, as well as cargo and passenger charters to Russia and the Middle East and pilgrim services from Kerman to Syria. Its main base is Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA), Tehran.

1 History
2 Incidents and accidents
3 Destinations
4 Trivia
5 Fleet
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

The airline was established in 1991 and began operations in 1992. It joined IATA in 2001 and is owned by Mol-Al-Movahedin Organisation (96 %). It has 1400 employees. It has come a long way from its humble origin as a small domestic airline. Its story began when Mahan Air was incorporated in 1992 as the first private airline in Iran. At its operational launch in May 1993, Mahan Air had modest fleet comprising two Tupolove 154 aircraft, a staff of 99 and a route network from Tehran to 2 domestic destinations. It also had great potential and boundless ambitions.

After few years of relatively slow growth, Mahan Air real growth was initiated with the addition of Airbus A300 wide-body equipment to the fleet in 1999 and the A310 in 2001.This enabled the airline to reach beyond regional destinations it served at that time. Currently, its route network spans 21 destinations in 10 countries and it has a modern fleet of 11 all Airbus aircraft and 1400 employees. Influential Iranian leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjany is rumored to have a controlling interest in the airline^{[citation needed]}. It's seasonal flight to Tunis has recently been terminated due to lack of response from passengers.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On 7 March 2005 a Mahan Air Airbus A310-300 aircraft with 14 crew and 77 passengers on board, veered off runway 29L to the left at Tehran. There were no injuries reported (ref: Flight International, July 2005).

[edit] Destinations

Domestic

Asia

Bangkok

Delhi

Kochi

Lahore

Middle East

Bahrain

Damascus

Dubai

Jeddah

Europe

Birmingham

Düsseldorf

Istanbul

Manchester

[edit] Trivia

Mahan Air sponsored Persepolis FC in the Iran Premier League (2005-2006).
Mahan Air is the only Arline in Iran that the crew uses neckties because it is private owned.
Mahan Air put a bid in to buy 40% of the share of Dariush Grand Hotel in Kish Island, Iran. But the airliners bid was rejected by the Rezidor Hotel Group.

[edit] Fleet

The Mahan Air fleet includes the following aircrafts (at March 2007):

**Mahan Air Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Average Age	Registration
Airbus A300-B4	5	27	EP-MHE, EP-MHF, EP-MHG, EP-MHL, EK-30039
Airbus A300-B2	3	27	TC-SGA, EK-30060, EK-30044
Airbus A310-300	4	16.4	F-OJHH, F-OJHI, EK-31088, EX-301
Airbus A320-214	4	12.4	EP-MHK, EP-MHJ, EK-32075
Boeing 747-400	3	18	EK-74763, EK-74779, EK-74783
McDonnell Douglas MD-80	2	17.7	LZ-LDV, LZ-LDZ
Tupolev Tu-204	2	-	SU-EAF, SU-EAI
Tupolev Tu-154	1	-	EP-MHS
Total	24	19.5

Country Code Registration: EP- (Iran), EK- (Armenia), TC- (Turkey), LZ- (Bulgaria), SU- (Egypt). Therefore, 8 of Mahan aircrafts have Armenian registration incl. three Boeing 747-422 which were previously registered and operated by the United Airlines. The Armenian registered aircrafts are operated by the Blue Airways. Due to the sanctions imposed by the US government, Iranian airliners can only acquire airplanes which are at least 7 years old, and they only can be purchased through a third party instead of direct purchase from Boeing or Airbus. As a result, many of Mahan aircrafts have foreign registrations. It has been suggested that the Armenian airliner “Blue Airways” is closely tied and affiliated with Mahan Air.